This invention concerns microemulsions and emulsions, and their use in various applications.
Microemulsions are well known. Typical components of microemulsions include water, an organic solvent, and surfactants. Often, microemulsions are used as cleaning formulations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,962 describes a clear, single phase, pre-spotting composition provided in the form of a microemulsion, solution, or gel, this composition characterized as being infinitely dilutable with water without phase separation. Other references describe compositions useful in cleaning applications. In systems described as being oil continuous, the systems have low water contents. While predominately describing water continuous systems, some of the examples in U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,962 exemplify low water containing, oil continuous (water in oil) systems. While such formulations are known in a general sense, much research is dedicated toward finding new microemulsion and emulsion formulations. It is desirable to find new compositions for such purposes which possess high water contents and are oil continuous. Such oil continuous microemulsions are especially suitable to function as cleaning compositions to remove oil or grease.